Season 1 - 8 episodes (2024)
Watch the trailer
Created by: Jon Brown
Starring: Billy Magnussen, Aya Cash, Himesh Patel, Jessica Hynes, Lolly Adefope, Isaac Powell, Ruaridh Mollica, Darren Goldstein
Rated: TV-MA
Plot
A team trapped inside the dysfunctional hell of creating franchise superhero movies. At the end of the day the question they face is: is this Hollywood's new dawn or cinema's last stand?
Verdict
It seems like The Franchise wants to be to the movie industry what Silicon Valley was for the tech world. Unfortunately it doesn't get there. This is never as funny or as engrossing as I wanted it to be. It's amusing, and I'm sure the jokes are truer than I would believe, but I was never invested in this show. The humor is derived at how ridiculous people and events are while filming a movie, knowing it's probably very close to how major movies are made. I kept waiting for this to take the next step, but it doesn't.
Skip it.
Review
Executive produced by Armando Iannucci who wrote the pilot. This is Iannucci's follow up to his last two series the disappointing Avenue 5 and the classic Veep. I was excited for Avenue 5, especially after Veep, but it never came together, remaining unfulfilled potential. The Franchise elicits the same reaction. I wanted to like this more than I do. HBO has tried to fill the Sunday night time 10pm slot with comedies that react to pop culture with mixed results.
This presents the typical Hollywood stereotypes as being more accurate than you might think. The assistant director Daniel (Himesh Patel) is the one doing all the work, the director Eric (Daniel Brühl) is easily influenced and his confidence easily wounded. He's more concerned with the art, and at this point in production they just need to finish the movie. The veteran, former stage actor Peter (Richard E. Grant) thinks this movie is beneath him but likes the paycheck. The young star Adam (Billy Magnussen) is a middling actor that lacks social awareness. He's a stereotypical millennial that thinks the world revolves around him.
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| Lolly Adefope, Himesh Patel play Dag, Daniel |
The set is hectic, with Daniel trying to tame actors and the crew while still trying to actually make a movie. Maximum studios seems to be a satirical stand in for Marvel. Everyone on set has a different view of the importance of this film. Is it relevant or does it undermine cinema as a whole? The actors don't care, nor do most of the crew. They see this movie as torture, and they're in it for the paycheck. The studio doesn't care about the product, just the revenue and what kin dof press it can generate.
A guest star in the fourth episode really pokes fun at how ridiculous super hero movies have become. This feels like a show insiders would get more out of, knowing how true this depiction is. This is silly to the point of ridiculousness, and it doesn't go farther than the generic stereotypes. This is a workplace comedy that focuses too much on the work and not enough on the characters. Peter would be more fun as a Creed-type character from The Office. This show has a lot of people, but no compelling characters. The root problem of this show is the lack of character development. The ongoing plot should serve to elaborate on the characters, but instead the characters exist just to push the plot forward.
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